Gord was unable to fathom what the dweomer was, but after making several passes in the air and uttering some tongue-twisting syllables, Eneever Zig rapped the wall with a small silver rod, turned, and dashed into the pool, the spray from his hurried entry wetting both adventurers as they stood in the ankle-deep water.

In no time at all they bade the insect-infested morass and the accompanying trolls adieu, and then they headed for Castle Fizziak at a swift pace, guarded by the ex-bandits and whatever dweomer Quodilde the witch of Grimalkinsham had placed over them as an aegis.

Dweomer, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, is the Old English word meaning 'witchcraft' that derives from the Old Norse term dvergmál literally meaning 'dwarf talk' (dvergr dwarf + mál talk), referring to the secret knowledge of magic among the Norse dwarves. See for instance the entry, dweomercræft. A related Middle English word that derives from the phrase 'dwarf talk', dwergma, means 'echo', crediting the dwarves who live in the stones with the sound.